Herein disclosed are imaging members, such as layered photoreceptor devices, and processes for making and using the same. The imaging members can be used in electrophotographic, electrostatographic, xerographic and like devices, including printers, copiers, scanners, facsimiles, and including digital, image-on-image, and like devices. More particularly, the embodiments pertain to an imaging member or a photoreceptor that incorporates a metal oxide that possesses a moisture content of less than 5 percent by weight of the total weight of the metal oxide to improve image quality. Some embodiments further include other molecules, namely polyol and aminoplast resins, to improve image quality.
Electrophotographic imaging members, e.g., photoreceptors, typically include a photoconductive layer formed on an electrically conductive substrate. The photoconductive layer is an insulator in the substantial absence of light so that electric charges are retained on its surface. Upon exposure to light, the charge is dissipated.
In electrophotography, also known as Xerography, electrophotographic imaging or electrostatographic imaging, the surface of an electrophotographic plate, drum, belt or the like (imaging member or photoreceptor) containing a photoconductive insulating layer on a conductive layer is first uniformly electrostatically charged. The imaging member is then exposed to a pattern of activating electromagnetic radiation, such as light. The radiation selectively dissipates the charge on the illuminated areas of the photoconductive insulating layer while leaving behind an electrostatic latent image. This electrostatic latent image may then be developed to form a visible image by depositing oppositely charged particles on the surface of the photoconductive insulating layer. The resulting visible image may then be transferred from the imaging member directly or indirectly (such as by a transfer or other member) to a print substrate, such as transparency or paper. The imaging process may be repeated many times with reusable imaging members.
An electrophotographic imaging member may be provided in a number of forms. For example, the imaging member may be a homogeneous layer of a single material such as vitreous selenium or it may be a composite layer containing a photoconductor and another material. In addition, the imaging member may be layered. These layers can be in any order, and sometimes can be combined in a single or mixed layer.
The demand for improved print quality in xerographic reproduction is increasing, especially with the advent of color. Common print quality issues are strongly dependent on the quality of the undercoat layer (UCL). Conventional materials used for the undercoat or blocking layer have been problematic. In certain situations, a thicker undercoat is desirable, but the thickness of the material used for the undercoat layer is limited by the inefficient transport of the photo-injected electrons from the generator layer to the substrate. If the undercoat layer is too thin, then incomplete coverage of the substrate results due to wetting problems on localized unclean substrate surface areas. The incomplete coverage produces pin holes which can, in turn, produce print defects such as charge deficient spots (CDS) and bias charge roll (BCR) leakage breakdown. Other problems include “ghosting,” which is thought to result from the accumulation of charge somewhere in the photoreceptor. Removing trapped electrons and holes residing in the imaging members is the key to preventing ghosting. During the exposure and development stages of xerographic cycles, the trapped electrons are mainly at or near the interface between charge generating layer (CGL) and undercoating layer (UCL) and holes mainly at or near the interface between charge generating layer and charge transport layer (CTL). The trapped charges can migrate according to the electric field during the transfer stage, where the electrons can move from the interface of CGL/UCL to CTL/CGL or the holes from CTL/CGL to CGL/UCL and became deep traps that are no longer mobile. Consequently, when a sequential image is printed, the accumulated charge results in image density changes in the current printed image that reveals the previously printed image. Thus, there is a need, which the present embodiments address, for a way to minimize or eliminate charge accumulation in photoreceptors, without sacrificing the desired thickness of the undercoat layer.
The terms “charge blocking layer” and “blocking layer” are generally used interchangeably with the phrase “undercoat layer.”
Conventional photoreceptors and their materials are disclosed in Katayama et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,496; Yashiki, U.S. Pat. No. 4,579,801; Yashiki, U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,669; Seki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,605; Kawahara, U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,407; Markovics et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,599; Monbaliu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,734; Terrell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,080; and Yoshihara, U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,449, which are herein all incorporated by reference.
More recent photoreceptors are disclosed in Fuller et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,716; Maty et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,309; and Dinh et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,207,334, which are all herein incorporated by reference.
Conventional undercoat or charge blocking layers are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,450; U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,573; U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,796; and Obinata et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,824, which are all herein incorporated by reference.